Each of us has a unique personality that makes us who we are.
Personality has to do with a person's overall characteristics and qualities based on how they think, feel and behave.
According to APA's Dictionary of Psychology, it's
"the enduring configuration of characteristics and behavior that comprises an individual's unique adjustment to life, including major traits, interests, drives, values, self-concept, abilities, and emotional patterns"
It is used to understand people using the same dimensions. We share commonalities but, at the same time, we are also very different from one another.
These differences and their reasons are a vital part of the study of personality. They are what makes us unique.
Some of the factors that influence our personality and origins these differences are:
However, we have a shared human nature, and some personality traits can be found in more or less intensity in all of us.
That's where the Big Five comes in.
The Big Five or Five-Factor Model is a valid and widespread measure of personality in use today.
Two critical researchers who dedicated themselves to this theory are Lewis Goldberg, who narrowed down Cattel's 16 "fundamental factors" into five dimensions, and Paul Costa and Robert McCrae, who did extensive work validating these dimensions.
The theory captures most of each individual's common traits and characteristics. They can be narrowed down into five dimensions of personality: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
Together, they form the acronym OCEAN.
We can view these broad dimensions of personality as a spectrum on which several related traits and characteristics fall under.
So, when using the Big Five theory, saying someone either is or isn't conscientious, for example, is misguided.
These traits aren't dichotomous. Instead, the right notion would be that someone is low in conscientiousness.
Everyone has all of these traits. The question is, at what level? And how do they relate to each other?
Generally, the Big Five stays consistent throughout one's life, but they can vary as one grows into adulthood.
Currently, this model is the most widely accepted way of viewing personality, so it's essential to understand what each trait stands for.
Openness to experience (O) is the tendency to try and learn new things. It is associated with imagination and intellect.
The traits associated with this dimension include being curious, imaginative, insightful, daring, original, and clever.
People high in O are often creative, open to change, and appreciative of learning new things.
People low in O often prefer a routine, are closed to new ideas and do not like change.
Openness can manifest as fantasies, aesthetics, feelings, actions, ideas, and values.
Openness may help develop intelligence; in turn, intelligence may predispose the individual to openness. However, the two are separate dimensions of individual differences.
Conscientiousness (C) stands for the ability to control impulses and have self-discipline.
Traits associated with conscientiousness are discipline, hard work, and thoroughness.
People high in C tend to be consistent, organized, reliable, and dependable in their work.
People low in C are more impulsive, spontaneous, disorganized, careless, find it more difficult to finish tasks, and tend to procrastinate.
Conscientiousness has a lot to do with direction. Someone high in C is purposeful and adheres to plans with an objective in mind. This means that someone low in conscientiousness is not so much uncontrolled as undirected.
Extraversion (E) has to do with how someone seeks and draws energy from their social environment. It's what we commonly know as extroversion, in contrast to introversion.
Traits that fall under this are outgoing, energetic, and friendly.
People high in E are often talkative, affectionate, and are comfortable meeting and interacting with new people.
People low in E (introverts) tend to be more shy, reserved, contemplative, and quiet.
What extraversion comes down to is the enjoyment of others' company.
Generally, extroverts get energized by socializing with other people. In contrast, introverts feel depleted after spending time with others and need to recharge their energy alone.
Agreeableness (A) is the tendency to get along with other people.
Traits associated with it are kind, polite, helpful, humble, patient, and sensitive.
People high in A are generally considerate of other people's feelings and needs, are well-liked by others, and have great tact.
People low in A are more antagonistic, mistrustful, skeptical, rude, and inconsiderate.
While some highly antagonistic people may be aggressive, others are polished manipulators.
Neuroticism (N) is one's tendency to worry and is related to emotional instability and confidence.
This trait is perhaps the most agreed on between personality researchers, and it originated from psychologists' concerns with psychopathology.
People high in N tend to be pessimistic, fearful, anxious, insecure, moody, and angry.
People low in N are more emotionally stable, calm, confident, and self-assured.
Neuroticism can also be linked with poor coping skills, like hostile reactions and wishful thinking.
As we've mentioned, each trait can be interpreted as a spectrum on which we all fall.
Naturally, higher levels of some traits are more desirable than others.
For example, most people wish to be high in agreeableness and openness, while we'd struggle to find someone who'd want to be high in neuroticism.
However, there's a balance to be achieved. Having too much of anything, even if it's supposedly a good thing, can end up being maladaptive.
Take conscientiousness, for example. On the one hand, organization and self-discipline are traits that can take us far and help us achieve our goals and fight for what we want.
On the other hand, being too high in conscientiousness may make us too inflexible and leave no room for spontaneity in our lives.
Even being extremely high in agreeableness can trouble us. People with high scores in A can be dependent and have difficulty imposing themselves even when necessary.
It is well established that genes play a major role in one's personality. It's believed that 40-60% of individual differences in personality can be attributed to genetic variations.
Nonetheless, there's still an extensive amount of who we are that's determined by our environment and upbringing, whether we're conscious of it or not.
Babies aren't born with a set and unchangeable personality; instead, we're all born with a temperament that makes us predisposed to certain traits.
How these traits develop and change over time will heavily rely on how we're raised and the interactions we have in our lives.
For example, it's believed that parental warmth is linked to high child extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience, and low child neuroticism.
In its turn, parental behavior control is linked to positive child conscientiousness.
However, the temperament we're born with also influences how we react to our environment.
In a 2016 study, it was found that children with high negative emotionality, which can be compared to neuroticism, are especially sensitive to both good and bad parenting.
This means that these children suffer more in a hostile environment but greatly thrive when they receive good care. The researchers noted that
"the very individuals most vulnerable to environmental stressors may be the ones who benefit most from environmental support."
While parenting does play an essential role in our personality, a longitudinal 2021 study³ analyzing the association between parenting and child Big Five personality traits found only a small association between the two.
This points to the notion that it's not a few large environmental factors that will set our personality in stone. Instead, our personality is influenced by many environmental factors, each playing a small yet essential role in our development.
Moving on from our early years, our Big Five personality traits can also change based on significant life events later in life.
Romantic relationships, life transitions, jobs, losses - these are all factors that can change us.
For example, when we enter our first job, it's demanded that we practice traits such as organization, reliability, and engagement.
These are all characteristics that relate to conscientiousness and could change our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, translating to other areas of our lives and having a lasting impact on us.
Differences in personality traits among genders are not apparent in the Big Five but are more evident in the aspect level.
When we say aspect level of traits, we mean more specific characteristics that make up the Big Five.
For example, women score higher in neuroticism than men do. Upon examining the aspect level of neuroticism, women were found to have higher scores of Withdrawal, which is associated with depression and anxiety. On the other hand, men have higher scores of Volatility, which is associated with irritability and temperament. This gap in neuroticism usually tends to decrease as they grow older.
In terms of agreeableness, women tend to have higher scores than men. As they grow older, the difference tends to widen. On further examination of the aspect level, women were high in Compassion and Politeness.
Women also tend to receive slightly higher scores of extraversion than men. The aspect level consists of Enthusiasm and Assertiveness. Women get higher scores in Enthusiasm; they are more sociable and more likely to experience positive emotions. Meanwhile, men have scored highly in Assertiveness, which is characterized by agency and dominance.
While no significant differences exist in conscientiousness between genders, the aspect trait within this dimension shows detailed information on gender differences. That is, women have higher scores of Orderliness than men. As a result, they will be more likely to follow a schedule and ensure things are done perfectly.
The same observation was made in openness to experience. No gender difference was immediately apparent, but upon examining the aspect traits within this dimension (Openness and Intellect), it was found that women were higher in openness while men rated higher in Intellect. This doesn't mean that men are more intelligent than women. It might only mean that men are more confident in their abilities. As people grow older, there aren't any differences in Intelligence, which may mean that women become aware and confident of their capabilities.
The personality differences observed between men and women are associated with a normative pressure to conform with gender-based social expectations, which are plenty.
Western societies stimulate women to favor positive social traits, reflecting on their Extraversion and, especially, Agreeableness scores. As for men, they're expected to be more dominant and refrain from expressing sadness, but not from expressing anger. This is illustrated by their Volatility and Assertiveness scores.
Also, women are generally more aware of how others perceive them than men. This self-consciousness derives from normative pressures for women to look and act a certain way and contribute to higher scores in neuroticism.
The Big Five personality traits play an important role in predicting how someone will act in the workplace.
The trait most associated with workplace behavior is conscientiousness, which doesn't come as a surprise since it's related to self-discipline and organizational skills.
People high in conscientiousness display extensive job-related knowledge and focus on their performance at work. They're also likely to become strong leaders.
The con of being too conscientious in the workplace is not leaving much space for creativity and flexibility, which is a skill most jobs require often.
Conscientiousness, along with extraversion and agreeableness, is also positively linked to job satisfaction.
In the workplace, people high in agreeableness tend to be well-liked and easily follow the rules.
As for extroverted people, it's believed they are strong leaders but are more impulsive than their introverted peers.
People high in openness also make for good leaders as they greatly adapt to changes, making them steadily productive over a long time.
Lastly, people high in neuroticism are likelier to be dissatisfied with their job and have a tendency to experience employee burnout.
There's several different individuals you'll encounter in a workplace, each one with their way of working. Therefore, what makes for a great coworker and leader is understanding how all personalities differ and the distinctive traits they encompass.
The Big 5 personality traits that have the most impact on relationships are extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
To start, people high in extraversion will usually have a wider network of friends. They are often very cheerful and experience and express positive emotions more readily. You can expect them to have good social skills.
During first encounters, they don't like new people more than introverts do. However, they do tend to be more liked by the people they meet in the first instance. They are more inclined to socialize and mingle with other people, leaving a lasting first impression.
People in high in extraversion often take care of their friendship better especially when conflicts come their way. Moreover, they seem to be good at actively and constructively addressing problems.
Moving on to agreeableness, people high in this trait develop and maintain their friendships really well.
You'll usually find agreeable people having deep solid friendships. They are very helpful and cooperative with the people around them. They also won't explode on you when they become angry.
Compared to extroverts, they are less likely to seek new friends but get chosen as friends more by others.
Being more agreeable can help keep relationships healthy. They're more forgiving than those low in agreeableness, who are more likely to experience poorer romantic relationships and more divorces.
The third major personality trait that affects relationships is neuroticism, but it does so negatively.
You can expect people with high scores of neuroticism to be more emotionally reactive and likely to experience and display negative emotions. They'll have fewer friends than other people do.
More often than not, they can assume beforehand that they won't be liked by the new people they meet. They tend to be cautious and self-conscious during these encounters.
This is also true when studies examined romantic relationships. People high in neuroticism often expect the worst-case scenarios to happen.
Oftentimes, they will seek reassurance from their peers even though they've already been reassured, which can jeopardize their relationships.
In handling conflict, they will usually avoid and neglect the issue at hand.
Interestingly, you will usually find happy couples when their scores on neuroticism match each other.
Conscientiousness and openness to experience do not have as big an impact as the first three, but there are still some interesting correlations.
Conscientiousness plays a small role in maintaining friendships.
People high in conscientiousness perceive better and more satisfying relationships with their friends and partners and experience more positive feelings about it. They often perceive good support from their family members as well.
They also tend to initiate conflict resolution and are less likely than others to split up with their partners.
People who are high in openness tend to have friends that match their score in this trait.
Unsurprisingly, you can usually find them to have many friends.
Moreover, they're able to handle conflicts constructively. One reason for this may be because they can look at the issue from different perspectives, helping them make informed decisions.
The Big Five factors are known to be stable against the influence of relationship experiences. However, when a person's personality characteristics change, it affects the way they perceive their surroundings like the support they receive from family members.
Research conducted by the American Psychological Association found that assessing a patient's personality during routine medical exams might be as useful as recording their family medical history.
This is due to some interesting results the study landed at.
Firstly, being high in conscientiousness appears to be one of the best predictors for good health. The most conscientious people at 26 years old ended up being the ones with the best health at 38, in comparison with those low in this trait.
This is probably due to the fact that conscientious people tend to maintain healthy diets and are less probable to abuse alcohol and drugs.
Individuals low in conscientiousness were more likely to have high cholesterol, inflammation, hypertension, and risk of gum disease.
Similarly, neuroticism helps predict the quality and longevity of our lives. This personality trait is linked to several mental health disorders, such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and substance abuse disorders.
Furthermore, people high in neuroticism are likelier to have medically unfounded somatic complaints. However, there are studies that found correlations between this personality trait and serious physical health problems such as cardiovascular disease and disrupted immune functioning.
Still, these physical health problems are heavily associated with anxiety and depression, which could explain the link with neuroticism.
Individuals high in neuroticism and low in Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Extraversion also present a higher risk of mortality.
Lastly, individuals who score high in Extraversion tend to engage more frequently in drug use. This happens because extroverted people generally seek out social experiences and rewards.
Even though the Big Five theory is the preferred model today to test personality, it has received some criticism from personality researchers and, like any other test, has its limitations.
There have been published articles and research pointing that there are personality traits that lie beyond the five factors, such as Humorousness, Deceptiveness, Honesty, Conceit, Thriftiness, and others.
According to Paunones and Jackson (2000), the Big Five test can describe meaningful traits and individual differences, but
"there is much important variance in human behavior not accounted for by the Big Five personality traits"
Therefore, any comprehensive description of human behavior should take the Big Five traits into account, but also the ones that aren't represented by it.
The Five Factor Model can provide a rather static notion of personality. McCrea and Costa (1999), the main contributors to the modern Big Five theory, believed that personality develops from childhood until about 30 years old when stabilizes.
However, there's empirical research that personality learning continues throughout our lives, and that we continue to develop past our thirties.
For example, one of these studies found that while among adolescents openness to experience tends to increase, among the elderly it generally decreases.
There is doubt on whether the Big Five applies to different populations across the world. The validity of the test outside of western, uneducated, industrialized, rich, and democratic populations is still unclear.
A study set out to analyze this validity by taking respondents from 23 different low and middle-income countries. The results showed that the questions failed to measure the Big Five personality traits, and different factors appeared to predict different things.
For example, low Neuroticism, and not Conscientiousness, was what best predicted income.
The authors theorized that this inconsistency can be due to differences in cognition and culture, which in turn are linked to differences in other factors.
The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire is a self-report test that measures two broad personality dimensions: Extraversion versus Introversion, and Neuroticism versus Stability. There is also a third scale that measures response distortion due to social desirability, the "Lie Scale".
Both Extraversion and Neuroticism share the same meaning as the Big Five dimensions of the same name.
The 16PF is a self-report test that gave origin to the Big Five theory, and it has been revised over the years.
The results can reveal things such as anxiety, adjustment, emotional stability, and behavioral problems.
Some of the factors that the 16PF measures are: Warmth, Reasoning, Sensitivity, Dominance, Openness to Change, Tension, Vigilance, and others.
This self-report test is based on psychoanalyst Carl Jung's theory on personality. Even though it is often used on hiring processes and such, it has low statistical validity and is not a reliable test.
The questions are set to measure 4 different categories:
In the end, the examinee will end up categorized into one of sixteen different personality types.
The HEXACO Personality Inventory is a self-report tool that measures personality traits quite similar to the Big Five:
The HEXACO model is innovative in its addition of the "Honest-Humility" dimension.
Unlike the Big Five and the last tests mentioned, projective measures are based on Freud's theory on personality and the unconscious.
Most of these tests work by presenting the examinee with ambiguous scenes, blobs, and images or giving broad instructions. The results can reveal unconscious perceptions and patterns of behavior.
Famous projective measures in use today are the Rorschach test, the House-Tree-Person test, and the Thematic Apperception Measure.
For a long time, it was believed that people couldn't change their personalities. The consensus was that you settled into an immutable personality after some time.
Like we've mentioned, even McCrea and Costa, two of the modern Big Five developers, shared that belief.
However, new studies suggest that though it's not easy, we can change our personalities.
As to why people might want to change their personalities, there are a number of different reasons.
First, most of the Big Five traits are socially desirable and reflect emotional maturity. That way, people low in desirable traits might want to change to feel an increase in their intrinsic value.
Second, many people can be dissatisfied with how their lives are going in different areas relative to personality traits. A 2015 study found that people dissatisfied with friendship, relationships, sex life or recreational activities tend to desire an increase in extraversion, while those dissatisfied with their academic and work lives seek an increase in conscientiousness.
This desired change can happen through significant life events, but also through purposeful interventions. As an example of the latter, a 2017 paper found that therapy has the potential of changing personality traits, mainly neuroticism, followed by extraversion.
It makes sense that therapy would lower someone's neuroticism score since it's linked to a number of different psychopathologies.
Besides clinical interventions, people can also conscientiously change by engaging in different patterns of behavior. Normally these patterns of behavior come from different roles we take on throughout our lives.
If we commit to a career, it's likely that we'll become more conscientious and that this change will endure, thus changing our personality.
Increasing conscientiousness in the workplace, for example, means engaging in activities that feel enjoyable, important, and that align with your values. If you wish to be more conscientious, reflect on what of these three factors might be holding you back.
Moreover, creating small and attainable goals that exercise the trait you want to change can help you change your behavior and, in turn, change your personality and how you view yourself.
For example, if you want to become more extroverted, it's possible to create objectives such as "hang out more with friends", or "meet one new person every week".
For whatever reason or means you wish to change, be mindful that you're doing it for the right reasons - not by the demands or actions of others, but by your own values and needs.
There are a number of different websites that allow you to take a free Big Five test. They vary in size and questions, but all of them follow the same premise: There are a number of different phrases and you have to mark, from 1 to 5, how much you agree/disagree. The instructions for the different tests will be available on the websites.
Some of the options are the following:
If you liked to learn about your personality traits and how they affect the different areas of your life, you might want to check out our article on attachment theory!
Attachment theory discusses how we relate to others and our patterns of behavior when it comes to relationships, whether they may be familiar, romantic, or friendship.
Having an understanding of both your Big Five traits and your attachment style can give you the tools to build a more meaningful and fulfilling lifestyle!
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